light made solid

Here is an audio download available on BBC's feature section. It is a discussion by Richard Marks, a medieval art historian at York University, and Peter Gibson, a stained glass conservator, exploring stories and messages hidden in the medieval stained glass of York Minster and the city's ancient Parish churches. It is a 17 minute audio file. York has been a famous centre for stained glass since the 12th century and I personally have heard Peter Gibson talk about his work restoring these windows on a trip he made to Pittsburgh for a Stained Glass Association of America's summer conference. Enjoy.

Here is an article with photos of a restoration project of windows from the Marienkirche in Frankfurt an der Oder.

During 2001 - 2002 the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Works of Applied Art restored 15 of 111 14th-century panels that made up three stained-glass windows in the Marienkirche (Church of the Virgin Mary) in Frankfurt an der Oder. Six centuries of pernicious atmospheric conditions, vandalism and war took their toll on the stained glass. In 1943 the panels were removed from the windows by the Germans to save them from bomb damage. They were placed first in the church itself and later in storage in Potsdam. From there they were removed to the Soviet Union and given for keeping to the Hermitage where they remained from 1946 to 2002. All the damage to the glass and lead came was recorded when they came into the museum.
The Hermitage had created in 2001 a Laboratory for the Restoration of Stained Glass with a team of three specialist restorers, three research workers specializing in mediaeval art and an expert in the chemistry of glass under the direct supervision of the museum's director.

More and more churches are photographing their stained glass windows and adding them to their site. Unfortunately, there is rarely much historical information posted along with the photos. Once in a while, I come across a well assembled collection of photographed windows with in depth historical information. Stained glass at Harvard University is my latest web find. Visit their impressive collection of windows from the late 1800's through the early 1900's in the Memorial Hall.

The collection of stained glass in Memorial Hall comprises a veritable museum of American stained glass. Artistic styles range from the traditional European techniques employed by the British designers of the earlier windows to the innovative use of new glass forms which are hallmarks of the American or Opalescent Style first developed by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany. Installed between 1879 and 1902, the majority of windows were commissioned and funded by various alumni classes. The Harvard Corporation's original guidelines for the windows required that:

Each window shall contain one or more upright figures, about the size of life, with an ornamental panel or inscription occupying the ventilator panel below, all with a boarder or canopy; and that these figures shall be typical or historical. The choice of design is also restricted to characters prior to the time of Shakespeare, it being the intention that the windows, when all complete, shall unite harmoniously into one great theme.

These guidelines were loosened over time. For example "typical and historical" was expanded to include allegorical figures such as Honor and Peace. The most apparent deviation from the Corporation's original guidelines is in John La Farge's Battle Window which depicts a continuous scene rather than one figure per lancet. The Battle Window is a gift of the class of 1860 which lost twelve classmates, including Robert Gould Shaw, to the Civil War. Approximately half of the windows illustrate Civil War-related themes while the others depict cultural, literary and historic subjects.

In the stained glass industry, we all benefit from the invention of laminated glass, as does anyone who drives a car. Laminated glass is a film of plastic fused to two pieces of glass so that when it is impacted, the sheet retains it's shape and doesn't shatter. Anyone who survives a car accident does so because the wind shield glass doesn't become a thousand projectile shards. Countless churches are now covered with this type of glass, what is referred to as protective glazing. Edouard Benedictus (1878-1930) is the inventor of this material. Benedictus was a French painter, composer, writer, and chemist. He began in 1897 as a book binder, and then worked on the design of furnishing materials. He knew Ravel whose song Noel des jouets received its first performance at one of the Benedictus musical evenings. He was a very accomplished print maker with a large body of work. Here is a collection of some of his prints.

Here is a description of the invention and inventor from the site: users.wfu.edu

Edouard Benedictus is the man who discovered safety glass in 1903. He was a Renaissance-man of sorts, dabbling in various fields, and he was once described as "A man who knows no limits." He discovered safety glass in a very serendipitous manner: one day while tinkering in his lab, he knocked over a flask that was resting on his workbench. The flask fell to the ground and shattered, but retained most of its original shape. Benedictus was intrigued by this, so he picked up the flask and examined it. It had a film on the inside of the glass that was holding it together. It was revealed upon closer examination that this film was made up of collodion, a chemical commonly used to seal cuts closed. Benedictus made a note of this and then put the flask back on the shelf and went back to what he had been doing before, vowing that he would go look at it again later.


A few days later, Benedictus was reading the Paris newspaper when he came across an article detailing a car accident that had occurred the day before. A young girl had been killed by the broken windshield. Benedictus was shaken by this, but didn't really think too much of it. A few days after that, he read another story in the newspaper about another person dying because of the flying glass from a windshield. This time, however, he was struck by inspiration, and he quickly ran to his lab and began work on this first safety glass.

For twenty-four hours straight, he experimented with coating glass with liquid plastic, then shattering it. By the next evening, he had finally produced the first pane of what he called "Triplex" two panes of glass sandwiching a layer of collodion that stuck to both panes of glass. The "Triplex" made it so that there would not be any flying shards of glass when the glass was shattered; the glass would stick to the collodion and there would be a lot less injuries from car accidents.

About.com has a helpful 'ask the expert' section for stained glass. You can post any questions and a team of experts will post back the answer. Each expert has a full description of what their qualifications are and what projects that they have completed. The questions posted on the site range from questions about fixing windows, making new panels using copper foil or leading, and information about using different materials and tools. You may even find someone with the same question that you have.

Here is a fascinating collection of images of Christ throughout history from 30 AD to present from religionfacts.com. Some basic facts and observations: Jesus was first represented by symbols like a lamb or fish. The earliest known image of Jesus is a fresco of the healing of the paralytic at Dura-Europos (c.230-40). Jesus first appears with a beard in the late 4th century (and then not consistently). The earliest depiction of the crucifixion is on a sarcophagus dated c.420 AD.

Here is a great compilation of information about using stained glass tools from The Store Finder. Com.

This "How To" contains information on stained glass construction and helpful tips for all the basic steps. Working with: Copper Foil, Scoring Glass, Working with Lead Came, Breaking Glass, Soldering, Grinding, Glass Cleaning & Finishing, and Using Diamond Band Saws.

The Stained Glass Museum's website, The South Triforium, Ely Cathedral, Ely, England has a great collection of photos and historical information on stained glass windows in England. Their website is a must visit for the stained glass fan.

The Stained Glass Museum offers a unique insight into the fascinating story of stained glass, an art-form that has been practised in Britain for at least thirteen hundred years.

The Museum Trust was set up in the 1970s to rescue and preserve stained glass and now houses a national collection of British stained glass. An exhibition of the finest pieces gives visitors a chance to appreciate its beauty and history.

The Museum is in the South Transept of Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, a small city fifteen miles north of Cambridge making it an ideal centre to visit.

The Museum's exhibits include an early 19th century stained-glass copy of a work by Raphael and an 18th century panel copied from a portrait by the artist Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Also on display is work by Morris & Co. 20th Century work includes pieces by John Piper, Brian Clarke and Evie Hone famous for work at Eton College Chapel .